Casting out demons through silence

Father Ron Rolheiser

There is an incident in the Gospels where the disciples of Jesus were unable to cast out a particular demon. When they asked Jesus why, he replied that some demons can only be cast out by prayer. The specific demon he was referring to in this instance had rendered a man deaf and mute.

I want to mention another demon that seemingly cannot be cast out except through prayer, namely, the one that forever fractures our personal relationships, families, communities and churches through misunderstanding and division, making it challenging to be in a life-giving community with one another.

What particular prayer is needed to cast out this demon? The prayer of a shared silence, akin to a Quaker Silence.

What is a Quaker Silence?

A brief bit of history first: Quakers are a historically Protestant Christian denomination whose members refer to each other as Friends, but are generally called Quakers due to a famous statement once made by their founder, George Fox (1624-1691). Legend has it that in the face of some authority figures who were trying to intimidate him, Fox held up his Bible and said: “This is the word of God, quake before it!”

For the Quakers, particularly in the early days, their common prayer primarily consisted of sitting together in community in silence, waiting for God to speak to them. They would sit together in silence, waiting for God’s power to come and provide them something they could not give themselves: genuine community with one another beyond the divisions that separated them. Though they sat individually, their prayer was radically communal. They were sitting as one body, waiting together for God to provide them a unity they could not give themselves.

Might this be a practice that Christians of every denomination could practice today in the light of the helplessness we feel in the face of division everywhere—in our families, in our churches and in our countries? Sitting together in silence, we would await God’s power to give us community that we are powerless to give ourselves.

Practically, how might this be done? Here’s a suggestion: each day, set aside a time to sit in silence, alone or ideally with others, for a set period of time (fifteen to twenty minutes) where the intent, unlike in private meditation, is not first of all to nurture our personal intimacy with God, but rather to sit together in community with everyone inside the Body of Christ (and with all sincere persons everywhere) asking God to come and give us communion beyond division.

This could also be a powerful ritual in marriage and family life. Perhaps one of the most healing therapies within marriage is for a couple to sit together regularly in silence, asking God to give them something they cannot give themselves: an understanding of each other beyond the tensions of everyday life. I remember praying the rosary together as a family each evening as a child, and that ritual having the effect of a Quaker Silence. It calmed the tensions that had built up during the day and left us feeling more peaceful as a family.

I use the term Quaker Silence, but various forms of meditation and contemplation share the same intentionality. For example, the founder of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (the religious order to which I belong), Saint Eugene de Mazenod, left us a prayer practice he called Oraison. This is its intention: as Oblates, we are meant to live in community, but we are a worldwide congregation scattered across sixty countries worldwide. How can we maintain community with one another across such distances?

Through the practice of Oraison. Saint Eugene asked us to set aside a half hour each day to sit in silence, a time when we are not just in communion with God but are also intentionally in communion with all Oblates around the world. Akin to Quaker Silence, Oraison is a prayer where each person sits alone in silence, yet in community, asking God to form one community across all distances and differences.

When Jesus says some demons are only cast out by prayer, he means it. And perhaps the demon to which this most particularly refers is the demon of misunderstanding and division.

We all know how powerless we are to cast it out. Sitting in a communal silence, asking God to do something for us beyond our powerlessness, can exorcise the demon of misunderstanding and division.